Purpose: To date, heterozygous or homozygous COL12A1 variants have been reported in 13 patients presenting with a clinical phenotype overlapping with collagen VI-related myopathies and Ehlers-Danlos syndrome (EDS). The small number of reported patients limits thorough investigation of this newly identified syndrome, currently coined as myopathic EDS.
Methods: DNA from 78 genetically unresolved patients fulfilling the clinical criteria for myopathic EDS was sequenced using a next-generation panel of COL12A1, COL6A1, COL6A2, and COL6A3.
Results: Among this cohort, we identified four pathogenic heterozygous in-frame exon skipping (∆) defects in COL12A1, clustering to the thrombospondin N-terminal region and the adjacent collagenous domain (Δ52, Δ53, Δ54, and Δ56 respectively), one heterozygous COL12A1 arginine-to-cysteine substitution of unclear significance (p.(Arg1863Cys)), and compound heterozygous pathogenic COL6A1 variants (c.[98-6G>A];[301C>T]) in one proband. Variant-specific intracellular accumulation of collagen XII chains, extracellular overmodification of the long isoform and near-absence of the short isoform of collagen XII, and extracellular decrease of decorin and tenascin-X were observed for the COL12A1 variants. In contrast, the COL6A1 variants abolished collagen VI and V deposition and increased tenascin-X levels.
Conclusion: Our data further support the significant clinical overlap between myopathic EDS and collagen VI-related myopathies, and emphasize the variant-specific consequences of collagen XII defects.
Keywords: collagen VI; collagen XII; connective tissue; myopathic Ehlers–Danlos syndrome; myopathy.